A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vehicle tire maintenance. More particularly, the present invention relates to a tire puncture treatment patch that can be applied directly or through an instant applicator to permit a temporary long drive of the wheeled vehicles including automobiles and motorcycles.
B. Description of the Prior Art
As roads and parking lots are becoming more crowded and littered with more trashes, there are increasing numbers of vehicle tires injured by stepping on careless nails, screws and other sharp objects or criminal vandalism, just when more driving miles to the destination or a service station are desperately wished for. At the occurrence of a puncture, the tire eventually looses the air pressure and results in a critical lost control of the vehicle at that wheel support.
Traditionally, adhesive patches have been used to cover tire punctures. But because the adhesive force only cannot block the punctured area from the external tread side against the high pressure leak of the air lifting the vehicle the injured tire had to be demounted from wheel rim to cover the injuries from both the inside and the outside of the tire which needs a professional grade of equipments and industry standard skill beyond an immediate roadside remedy. Although known to be an unacceptable repair by itself, rubber plugs have been used in an attempt to block punctured holes in the tire. However, it hardly becomes a good emergency remedy due to a tedious pretreatment required with respect to removal of the puncturing nails and such hazardous objects. Especially in harsh weather, it might be impossible to take time outside of the vehicle to follow the necessary steps recommended.
Other available quick remedies include aerosol inflators that contain fluid sealant under pressurized air that is injected into the tire through the tire valve. Although they are supposed to provide a temporary, emergency repair to help get the vehicle off the road traffic and to the nearest tire repair facility, they create an inconvenient remnant for the service personnel who must be informed of the use of such material to eventually remove it completely before starting a repair job. That might create an extra difficult job due to permeations of the liquid under the high tire pressure in the tire structure through the puncture path. Further, some aerosol products of this type use flammable gases, such as butane, propane or isobutene as propellants, which are the environmentally hostile and critically unsafe to the highly frictional tire component in a vehicle.
With these conventional methods, once the particular nail hole is temporarily blocked to hold air in the tire it might be easy to ignore the invisible injury until after the insufficient repair causes sudden tire failure at the end of continued air loss. To prevent such incident, there is also a need for a clear indicator to prompt a timely visit to a service station for proper repair.
So, the presently available solutions are more suitable to non-emergency situations where the vehicle is affordable to be towed to the service station. In the service station, the tire is supposed to be demounted from the wheel for inspection to determine whether a permanent repair is feasible compared to a replacement. In the first step to condition the tire for treatment, the damaging object must be removed as any remnants from emergency treatment are cleared from the unit body of tire. To be considered a permanent repair of a tire, a combination patch and plug has been recommended wherein a vulcanizing stem is used to fill the tire injury and the proper sized tire repair patch reinforces the inner liner of the tire.
Therefore, a practical temporary tire patch that is compatible to this standard practice is necessary to allow even the inexperienced vehicle owners to treat the vehicle punctures right for a safe long drive as well as a future permanent professional repair. Still, such patch treatment is advantageously visible to naked eyes to remind getting a professional repair in reasonable time for the safety of the driver and vehicle.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a combination of an external tire patch with a novel multi-needle hold and an extra sealing means that instantly envelops the puncture injury in a positive manner to provide a longer and safer containment of tire air over an extended temporary drive.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an emergency long drive patch for tire puncture that is easy even for a novice vehicle operator to apply and is more agreeable to the permanent repair through a cleaner removal compared to prior art aerosol inflators.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a self-contained tire emergency patch and applicator combined which is easy and safe to handle and cheap to make.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tire puncture patch that is clearly visible to prompt a timely visit to a service station for proper repair.